Off The Board: NFL Makes Curious Decision About 2018 Draft

The NFL seems to be snubbing ESPN in more ways than one.
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On the newest edition of SI.com's "Off The Board" podcast, media reporter Richard Deitsch joins the show to discuss the news of FOX broadcasting the NFL Draft this year.

FOX will air the NFL Network feed of the event, in addition to ESPN airing its own telecast. How much will having the draft on free TV hurt ESPN? What message is the NFL, which is rumored to be taking away ESPN's wild-card playoff game and giving it to FOX, sending to ESPN?

Deitsch tackles those questions in addition to discussing other media stories in the news, including Olympic broadcast blunders and the controversy surrounding Boston radio station, WEEI.

Following Deitsch's appearance, ESPN writer, Arash Markazi joins "Off The Board" to talk about his role at the network and his ability to seemingly get into every cool event in the country.

Markazi, who used to work at SI.com, also talks about the time he saw a famous NBA player hoist a Playmate on his shoulders at the Playboy Mansion while missing a game because of an injury and filming Kate Upton's infamous "Dougie" video.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher.

Please make sure to subscribe and review after listening to the podcast.


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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.